Spell your name differently!

TNN|

Oct 30, 2007, 12.18 AM IST

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The story goes that what Jayalalitha could not achieve, Jayalalithaa managed to accomplish in the summer of 2001 by regaining power in Tamil Nadu. That the mere addition of the letter a at the end of her name on the advice of a numerologist did the trick. The RJD supremo may have lost power in Bihar. However, Laloo Prasad Yadav's state-wise loss has been somewhat compensated by Lalu's ascent to the national scene as Union minister for railways. In short, Lalu has not been derailed from power and can still use the railway infrastructure to bring in the crowds for political rallies in Patna where his cricketer-son can also be introduced.

And now it is reportedly former Karnataka deputy CM B S Yediyurappa's turn to try and fulfil his dream of becoming the BJP's first CM in south India. What Yediyurappa could not achieve on the original deadline of October 3 when the Janata Dal (Secular) was supposed to hand the CMship to its coalition ally, Yeddyurappa hopes to finally accomplish this time around.

Yedi has become Yeddy and— lo and behold—the same JD(S), which had in the first week of October hummed and hawed about how the transfer of the CMship to its coalition ally could impact on its secular name and image, has now offered unconditional support to the formation of a government headed by Yeddyurappa! If all that sounds bizarre, remember that it's not for nothing that some political commentators have in the wake of recent developments renamed the state as Kar-natak which, in Hindi, means to do a drama!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," Shakespeare wrote. It could be that the USP of a rose differs from that of a politician. The antics of politicians may not have the same sweet-smelling association of a rose. However, can Yeddy, Lalu and Jayalalithaa be blamed for wanting to turn up roses with a slight modification to the name!